Best of Friends
by gingerotaku55215
Summary: Several years have passed since Seigaku's school days and they now lead adult lives. After being together for a long time, Atobe and Ryoma adopt a child named Mizuki and he seems to have social anxiety. The only one to seem to understand poor Mizuki is Eiji and they form a close bond. ONE SHOT.


A/N: I know I haven't posted anything in a while. Life has been a whole lot more difficult than I thought it would. Let's just say senior year is stressful. Any who, hope you like this fanfic! Just so you know, Mizuki is a character I made up. He was adopted by Ryoma and Atobe, so please bare with me. I wrote this for my best friend sharp1e! Enjoy sharp1e and my other readers!

Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis but I do own all my ships!

"Happy birthday, Mizuki!" the whole team cheered. It's been six years since Ryoma and Atobe had adopted Mizuki. For Mizuki's birthday, Atobe and Ryoma had decided to take him to the Seigaku tennis courts so they could introduce tennis to him for the first time. Ryoma had also called up the whole Seigaku team to help Mizuki out.

After wishing Mizuki a happy birthday, the team lined up and began introducing themselves. Eiji was the first to introduce himself. Eiji did a back flip and landed on his left hand holding out his right one for Mizuki to shake. Mizuki meekly help out his hand and Eiji grabbed it gently and said, "Hi! My name is Kikumaru Eiji, but you can just call me Eiji!" Then Eiji stood right side up and moved to the side so that the rest of the team could introduce themselves as well.

The rest of the team crowded around little Mizuki and began telling him all their names at once.

" Hey! I'm Momo!" Momo said, grinning.

"Kaido."

"Sadaharu."

"Oishi."

"Tezuka."

"Taka."

"And I'm Fuji."

As Eiji stood back from the rest of the group, watching the scene unfold, he could tell that Mizuki was terrified by the large group. Eiji was about to go over and tell everyone to back off before Mizuki could cry, but he was too late. Mizuki burst into tears and ran over to Ryoma and Atobe and hid behind Atobe's long legs.

"Sorry guys," Atobe began, "he's very shy. He doesn't particularly like large groups of people."

Eiji, who seemed to understand Mizuki, whispered to the group, "Guys, we need to go up one at a time. We can't crowd around him like before. So, I'll talk to Mizuki and try to get him to feel comfortable enough to come out and say hi. If I can, I'll call you up one at a time and don't shout. Okay, break!"

The whole team stepped back several feet as Eiji walked over to Mizuki. When Eiji got to Atobe, Eiji got down on his knees and peeked behind Atobe to see Mizuki. Mizuki squeaked and flinched away from him, sniffling.

Eiji smiled, "Hi Mizuki. Do you remember my name?"

"E-Eiji," Mizuki stuttered, not quite looking into Eiji's eyes.

"That's right. Did you know that I'm a very close friend of your dad?" Eiji asked gesturing towards Ryoma.

Mizuki looked at Ryoma, "Really? Daddy said all his friends are nice and funny."

Ryoma smiled at Mizuki, "It's true. Eiji was one of the most energetic people on our team."

Mizuki looked at Eiji and stepped a little closer to Eiji, "What did Eiji do that daddy thought was so fun?"

"Do you wanna see?" Eiji asked while beaming, "I don't think Atobe and Ryoma would mind!"

Mizuki looked at Atobe for reassurance, "It's fine Mizuki," Atobe said while smiling at his son, "It's your birthday after all!"

"Yeah! Show me, Eiji! Show me!" Mizuki started to shout, jumping all around Atobe.

"Okay!" Eiji began, "Here I go!"

Eiji began to do the acrobatic routine that the entire team had been around for years and had grown to love.

As Eiji gracefully leapt and danced across the court, Ryoma and Atobe looked at Mizuki. Mizuki was standing stock-still as he stared intently at Eiji with wide eyes and a huge smile plastered on his chubby face. Ryoma and Atobe couldn't help but embrace as they watched their son come out of his shell.

At the end of Eiji's routine, he once again did a back flip, landing on his left hand and holding his right hand out towards Mizuki, "Did you like it?"

Mizuki beamed at Eiji, "It was so cool!"

Eiji smiled back, "I'm glad you liked it! Would you like to meet everyone with me?"

"Ummm…" Mizuki's smile faded slightly.

"It'll be okay Mizuki. I'll be right next to you the entire time," Eiji began, "Just think, both of your parents are friends with everyone here! Wouldn't that mean that they're nice? Come on! It'll be fun!"

Mizuki looked at Eiji's still outstretched hand and then into Eiji's eyes. Mizuki saw nothing but fun and care in Eiji's sparkling eyes. Mizuki then smiled and grabbed Eiji's hand and as he did so, Eiji maneuvered himself swiftly and elegantly. Eiji ended up standing upright with Mizuki squealing in delight while sitting on his shoulders.

"Okay! Like I said before, I'll call you up one at a time! Don't be too loud and don't too close!" Eiji called to the team and he began calling them one by one. This tactic seemed to help Mizuki feel much more comfortable and Mizuki looked like he enjoyed meeting all of them.

When Mizuki finished saying hello to everyone and shaking their hands, Eiji set Mizuki on the ground and kneeled on front of him, "How was that Mizuki? Did you like talking to them like that?"

"Yeah!" Mizuki grinned, "You were right! They're all so nice and funny!"

Eiji grinned back, "I'm glad you had fun! I think your dad wants to talk to you."

Mizuki turned around and saw Atobe bent down, gesturing for Mizuki to come over. Mizuki ran over and leapt into Atobe's arms as Atobe lifted him up, "How's your birthday so far Mizuki?"

"Awesome!" Mizuki cheered as he threw his arms up out of sheer happiness.

Ryoma walked over and kissed Mizuki on the forehead, "Are you ready to play tennis?"

"I want to tell Eiji something first," Mizuki stated.

Atobe and Ryoma looked at each other. Atobe asked, "Why?"

Mizuki grinned, "Just let me tell him!"

Atobe looked at Ryoma and just shrugged his shoulders and Ryoma called to Eiji and motioned for him to come over.

"What's up?" Eiji asked as he stopped right in front of Atobe and Ryoma.

Eiji was surprised when Mizuki leaped out of Atobe's arms and into his.

"I don't want to play tennis with daddy! I want to play tennis with Uncle Eiji!" Mizuki said, puffing out his cheeks.

Eiji, Ryoma and Atobe all looked at one another and said at the same time, "Uncle Eiji?"

"Yeah!" Mizuki squeaked as he poked Eiji's cheek, "Uncle Eiji's the best!"

Eiji couldn't help but get a little teary eyed and he squeezed Mizuki tight, "I'm glad you want to play with me, but I think Ryoma and Atobe want to be the ones to play you first."

"It's okay," Ryoma started, "He couldn't have a better teacher."

"Or uncle," Atobe said, smiling at Eiji.

Mizuki started to squirm so Eiji set him down and Mizuki grabbed his right hand, "Come on Uncle Eiji! Daddy said it's okay!"

Eiji beamed down at Mizuki, "Okay! Let's go!"

Mizuki played with everyone on the team once except for Eiji. Mizuki played several games with him and whenever they would take a break, you could find the whole team smiling contentedly as they watched Eiji and Mizuki play, laugh and talk together.

At the end of the day, everyone had said their goodbyes to Mizuki except for Eiji. When Eiji walked up to Mizuki to say goodbye, Mizuki began to cry.

Eiji picked up little Mizuki and let him cry on his shoulder, "What's wrong Mizuki?"

Mizuki hiccupped, "I don't want to leave Uncle Eiji yet! I want to play longer!"

Eiji chuckled and held Mizuki up in the air so Mizuki had to look down at him, "You know what? I want to keep playing with you too. You need to go home and rest though. I don't have anything planned this entire week so maybe Ryoma and Atobe can bring you over to my house sometime this week and we can play again! For now though, you need to go home with your parents. Maybe you could even stay the night one night! If you do, we can play lots! Okay?"

"But I want to stay at Uncle Eiji's house now!" Mizuki wailed.

Eiji let Mizuki rest his head on his shoulder again and began rubbing his back soothingly, "I know Mizuki," Eiji began but stopped mid-sentence because he began to choke up.

Atobe came up behind Eiji and laid a hand on his shoulder and Eiji saw Ryoma walking to their car. Eiji turned around and tried to give Mizuki to Atobe, but he took a huge step back.

Eiji looked puzzled, "Here, Atobe," Eiji said, "Take him home so he can rest."

Atobe smiled and looked Eiji in the eye, "No."

"What do you mean 'No'?" Eiji asked, even more confused.

Ryoma walked up next to Atobe and set down a car seat that was obviously Mizuki's.

"Well," Ryoma began taking Atobe's hand in his, "Atobe and I have had almost no time to ourselves. A week off from parenting sounds pleasant. What do you think Eiji?"

Eiji stood still for a few seconds trying to process what Ryoma and Atobe were saying. Then, Eiji beamed and held Mizuki up in the air again. Mizuki looked very bewildered and had stopped crying.

"What are they saying Uncle Eiji?" Mizuki asked, slightly tilting his head to the right.

"It means," Eiji started, "you're coming home with me for an entire week!"

Mizuki beamed and his eyes sparkled, "Really!? Yay! Let's go home and play Uncle Eiji!"

"We'll bring over his clothes and what not later tonight," Ryoma said before he kissed Mizuki's forehead and said goodbye.

Atobe smiled at Mizuki, "Make sure you behave while you're at your Uncle Eiji's house."

"You know I will!" Mizuki cheered and Atobe hugged Mizuki and patted Eiji on the back.

"Let's go home and play Mizuki!" Eiji shouted as he placed Mizuki on his shoulders and grabbed the car seat while he walked to his car.

"I love you Uncle Eiji," Mizuki said as he hugged Eiji tightly when Eiji gently placed Mizuki in his car seat.

Eiji smiled and kissed the top of Mizuki's head, "I love you too, Mizuki."

A/N: Soooo review and I may write a sequel…and make you cookies…thanks…


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